


Perfect Timing

by Nuclear_Mermaid



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe- fictional setting, Assassin/ royal guard AU, Guard Captain!Levi, King Erwin Smith, M/M, Mentions of Death, Old corrupt government, Organized Crime, Possible smut later, assassin!eren, if you think this fic needs an arcive warning for violence let me know, it's mostly "dude kicked dude in face and stabbed him", mentions of any other organized crime dealing you can think of probably, mentions of drug rings, mentions of human trafficking, relationships/characters/additional tags to be added later, the 104th are all assassins, very vague mentions of violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-26 23:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6259222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nuclear_Mermaid/pseuds/Nuclear_Mermaid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the land of Maria, corrupt government, shady political officials, and not-so-secret organized crime used to be a normal occurrence. That is until Erwin Smith inherited his father’s throne. Ever since the old king went missng, shortly following the disappearence of his corrupt assassins, King Erwin has been trying to fix all that his father had done. Little progress was being made, until the old assassins returned.<br/>But when the old assassins did return it became clear that they weren't the same as they were; they seemed to be the opposite, taking out the corrupt instead of loyal. Seeing his chance, King Erwin set out to make a deal with the new assassins, not unlike his father.<br/>Even with this new plan, what will happen to the country when Erwin’s trusted friend and captain of the Royal Guard, Captain Levi, falls for the new, bright eyed piano player? And what will happen to the assassins when Eren Yeager’s plan to prove that he is the best at infiltration goes horribly, horribly wrong.<br/>Will Levi be able to come to trust Eren and then, though he doesn’t realize it yet, the new assassins? And will Eren be able to put down his mask long enough to be his real self to someone outside of his beloved guild?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo.  
> Please excuse the crappy summery... I try.  
> So here is a story that I've been thinking about and have been wanting to write for a really long time now. If you have read the two chapters of my other work "Sound of Freedom" I apologize for not posting for, uh, a year. I might go back to it, might not.  
> Anyway this is me saying "hi" and I hope you enjoy this really short prologue. Im going to try to post a chapter weekly, though as proven by my last fic attempt, that probably won't happen. I am going to try though (I'm trying to stay 3 chapters ahead of the chapter I post) and so I ask you to be patient if you do end up sticking around.  
> Any and all comments are welcome, I love constructive critisism and feedback, just don't be rude or mean please.  
> Oh and my old username was Hysteria237.... yeah.  
> And without further fuckery, I present: "Perfect Timing"

No one really noticed the young man that evening. He was dressed just like everyone else, in his court “finest” and mask securely in place, he mingled like everyone else, he danced like everyone else, but he was certainly not like everyone else.

There were others in the crowd like him. Young men and women who were pretending to be something else entirely from what they really were. Some danced, some talked to important looking people, and some simply stood out of sight and made sure everything went smoothly.

Everyone was in play that night; like a newly set up chess board, not a single piece or pawn was missing. Everything had to go exactly as planned; every word spoken and every move made had to be thought through ten steps ahead.  Behind those pretenders’ faces of awe and excitement they were plotting and rethinking every step they took; but if a bystander were to look at them, they never would have known.

  _This_  was why they were considered the best.

That week blueprints were obtained, invitations were bribed off of people who wouldn’t be missed, and plans and backup plans were made. All of that to land them there, at a royal party in the Rose Castle’s biggest ballroom.

At a signal no one else could have noticed, the players began to move.

A glass of wine was spilled on to a thick bearded man back by the refreshments table. A couple broke out into a fight in the middle of the dance floor over something no one else could figure out. A young woman with a dress that barely concealed her curves shamelessly flirted with a guard by the upstairs patio doors.

And a young man left his beautiful and eye catching date, as she stumbled and fell in the midst of a large group of men, as he causally and expertly blended into the crowd, heading straight for an angry and cocky old man with girls hanging off his arms.

Misdirection and direction were games these players were experts at. They had to be if they wanted to be able to walk out of that room with the freedom they entered with.

So, as a drink was spilled and the bearded man turned to yell at the clumsy, almost bald waiter, the two men the man had been talking to quickly poured something a little extra in to his drink.

The man would be found dead by a very startled, yet relieved wife in the morning.

And as a couple fought and grabbed the attention of everyone on the dance floor; and as a guard payed no attention to the now slightly open, upper patio doors, an arrow found its way into the neck of a balding man on the outskirts of the crowd.

A petit, blond woman screamed at the sight of the arrow protruding from the man’s body, attracting everyone, even the king’s, attention.

Or, almost everyone’s.

The young man who had been slowly making his way toward the fat older male had caught the attention of a well decorated and dangerous looking man standing by the king.

The royal guard watched as the almost too plain looking man left his date as she fell and he began to move with deadly, calculated grace toward the back of the room. The black cloak and intricate mask the man was wearing obscured almost every detail except the way he moved. Even as the guard heard screams arise from the opposite side of the ballroom, his gaze never left the seemingly lethal male.

And as the screams started, and either they or the fallen woman attracted the attention of every party goer, the plain young man knew it was his turn.

As the barley clothed women dropped their hands from the old man’s arms to cover their mouths in horror, the young man stepped behind the agitated politician, whispered something no one else could hear, and slipped a dagger into the man’s lower back. As the shock settled, the man was unable to speak and fell to the ground almost as if he had fainted or had a little too much to drink.

No one noticed the blood pouring from the man; everyone was too busy trying to find the closet exit.

And as the chaos settled over the crowded ballroom, the players, the expert pretenders, all slipped out and into the night before anyone could stop them.

To them, it was all about perfect timing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn't that fun?  
> Anyway, like I said before please tell me what you thought and if you liked it. Thank you so much for reading this and you are an absolutely beautiful human being (yes you are, don't argue with me). Keep an eye out for the next chapter, I know that'll be up in a week, maybe less... after that one is anyone's guess.  
> Rad.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo.   
> So this was supposed to be up yesterday but I had to write my senior thesis and do a bunch of other shit as well. Don't believe anyone who tells you senior year is easy, they are lying.  
> Anyway already a late update... off to a good start!  
> By the way, I got the idea for this story after finally 100 percenting Assassins Creed Black Flag and Syndicate, rereading the Throne of Glass and October Daye series, and messing with my throwing knives. So if you see any parallels to those that is why.  
> Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter, I'm kind of worried about it because it is mostly setting and history/lorish set up and the writing is not my best. If you notice any lore or history not matching up at all in this story let me know, not alligning history is a huge bleh for me. I hate it so much I have already created like, 6 timelines for this story to keep things straight.   
> So yeah, leave comments and kudos and all that fun stuff, I love it.  
> Enjoy!

It was times like these that Eren felt the most free.

Running on the rooftops of the darkened city, Eren expertly jumped, climbed, and leapt as he made his way further and further away from the castle. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the others of his guild doing the same thing. Some ran on the ground, others were on the rooftops adjacent to his own, but all were sticking to the darkened parts of the streets, becoming nothing more than shadows. They all made sure to stay on side streets and away from loud taverns where clumsy and drunken patrons were still downing mug after mug of ale.

It wasn’t hard for the assassins to blend into the walls and shadowed areas of the city. With close together buildings that were mostly store fronts with upper level housing and stone roads that made no sounds under the assassins’ feet, it was easy for the group to get through the well-guarded city easily.

Each member of the guild could still hear the distant sounds of panic and chaos coming from the castle behind them, but as they got closer to the outskirts of the city where they had left their horses the noise began to fade.

Only a few blocks away from the wall separating the royal city of Sina from the rest of Maria and the outlying districts, Eren was ahead of the group when he saw, not too far away, a woman being gagged and pushed toward a dark alley. Without taking time to stop and tell the others, with his hood up and mask on, Eren silently sprinted to and dropped down behind the two men.

“Well ain’t she a pretty one”.

“Boss is gonna have a real fun time with her, he is”.

“Mm, maybe I can play with her a little first; warm her up for him or something?”

It took real effort for Eren not to gag at the revulsion he felt toward these men, opting instead to deliver a few hard kicks and jabs to each man before knocking them out cold.

Neither of the men ever saw or heard the assassin coming.

In truth he could have simply jabbed a few spots on each man and had them out of the way faster but he wanted them to feel the pain when they woke up and, hopefully, rethink their actions the next time they decided to try and take advantage of someone.

In the same sense he could have just as easily killed the two with the variety of weapons he had strapped to his body, but he had specific rules about who and how he could kill that he had to follow.

After he made sure that the last man was going to stay down, he quickly ran over to where the woman had fallen. At first the woman seemed more afraid of Eren than she was of the men who had taken her but after looking around at the men lying on the ground and hearing Eren’s repeated “shh, I’m not going to hurt you”’s she calmed down enough for Eren to approach and remove her gag.

The second the gag was removed the woman started thanking him profusely. Eren simply put his fingers to his lips and nodded his head before telling her to run. She did as she was told and as Eren got ready to start running again something stopped him. The hooded man froze, closed his eyes, and let the rest of his senses take over. The second he entered a calm state, Eren could hear the clopping of hooves and the slight vibration of two horses heading straight for him.

He ran toward the wall he was facing and vaulted upward, running up the side slightly, and grabbing the second story windowsill with ease. Using the upward momentum he gained, without pausing, he pulled himself up, reached up to the roof, jumped, and rolled onto it.

Just as he got to his feet and hid behind the chimney the two horses and their riders came into view. They rode up on the street right next to the alley the now unconscious men were lying in and stopped. Eren noted the castle guard uniforms and the well decorated horses and came to the conclusion, without too much difficulty, that these two men were castle guards. And even if he hadn’t figured it out from the obvious hints, their conversation would have informed him right away.

“Come on let’s head back, there’s no point in going any farther,” said one of the riders.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m not sure what Captain Levi thought we would find but there is nothing suspicious this far away from the castle,” replied the other weary guardsmen.

“Yeah. And what was with those instructions too,” the first stated, lowering his voice and speaking in monotone for the next part “’Go, get on your horses and check the streets for anything suspicious. If you see a lethal looking man in a black, gold, and teal cloak with a matching mask, report back immediately’. I mean, what kind of description is that, ‘lethal looking man’, that could be anybody! And I’m positive he wouldn’t still have the same clothes on if he was the one who caused this!”

“I knew having a “Shadow masquerade” ball would lead to nothing but trouble. You could get a whole bunch of dangerous people in a room and no one would notice.”

“Yeah it was a stupid idea to say the least. Come on let’s report back to Captain Short and Grumpy.”

“I hope he never hears you say that, I like you and would really rather not have to bury you”.

The two guards turned their horses around and rode back while laughing.

Eren waited until he could no longer hear the guards before stepping out from behind the chimney and running back to his horse. As he ran all he could think about was the fact that Captain Levi, the _captain_ of the King Erwin’s personal guard, had sent people out looking for _him_. How did Levi know to look for him? Did he see him kill Lord Brinton? Did he know he was a part of the people who caused the chaos tonight for a fact or was it a hunch? And “lethal looking”, he looked like every other plain courtesan tonight, that was the point!

He got to the wall in no time and climbed over it easily. He ran through the poor man’s fields who the assassins overly paid for looking after their horses until he reached the run down stables. He saw all the others already on their horses and waiting for him. No one said anything when they saw him, all of them already guessed what Eren had run off to do, he always tried to save everyone he could, no matter the circumstances.

Eren jumped on to his horse and the rest of the guild tore out of the stables and on to the road that lead them all the way through Countess Nanaba’s district, the small bit of land to the south west of the wall, running along the mountains. The mountains ran from the top of Maria, where the royal city sits, to the end of Maria’s land to the south, running along the west side of the country. About a two hour ride from the capital’s walls, to the edge of the mountains at the southernmost part of Nanaba’s land, is the entrance to the assassins’ guild. The assassins left their horses with the farm woman they saved from human traffickers about 7 years before.

About a mile up the mountain there used to be a small town named Shinganshina. It used to be a part of a group of towns that resided on the side of the mountain that were all destroyed in a landslide that happened 65 years ago. Twenty years after the slide the assassins of that time discovered that Shinganshina was barely touched by the slide but trapped and secluded by the ruble. The guild had decided to use it as their new base seeing as the only way to get into it was to climb and  jump from tree to tree up the side of the mountain. Over the years they expanded the village, building tree houses and connecting bridges so they had more room to grow and train. The original village was used for training and meetings while the treehouses were where the assassins slept, ate, and did whatever else they wanted.

When the assassins reached the town hall where they had meetings, the assassin king, Shadis, and their trainer, Hannes, were already there. As they gathered in the building and started removing their masks and hoods Eren looked around at his guild. They were all around the same age, 24 years, and each had either joined the guild by choice or was forced in at a young age. Each assassin had a custom handmade mask and cloak set that all had the base color black with details done in two other colors. No two assassins had the same colors or detailing but when they had chosen their colors, a little before their first missions, some decided to share a color. The assassins came from different backgrounds, families, and histories but nothing was a secret. They all knew almost everything about each other; Shadis lived by the idea that everyone should know each person fully in order to trust and work together well.

No one had said a word since they fled the castle, their training too strong to fail under the obvious excitement and pride they felt.

Shadis took in everyone’s expression, pausing for a moment longer at Eren’s, before turning to Armin, a shortish male with blonde hair that framed his face, and nodding his head.

Knowing his cue, Armin started to recap the night’s events.

“We were able to get Connie into the party as a waiter without much trouble; the actual waiter came down with a “sudden illness”, thank you Bertolt, and Connie said he was a friend who was paying a favor. He did get chewed out by Lord Varise while Bertolt and Reiner poured way too much slow acting poison in to his drink though.”

“Hey I just poured what Reiner gave me” an extremely tall, brunette, and skinny man, Bertolt, countered when Armin paused his report.

“I wasn’t going to pull out a spoon and make sure we had the right amount! I just gave you the entire bottle instead!” Reiner, another rather tall but broad and brunette assassin, exclaimed defensively.

“Well what’s done is done, please continue Armin” Hannes interjected, smiling fondly at the assassins’ antics.

“Thank you Hannes. Well either way I’ll be surprised if Lord Varise gets home before collapsing. Anyway, Annie’s distracting worked wonders and Sasha was able to get to the balcony and shoot Count Kenzar.”

“Hey! Yimir and I helped too you know!” Jean stated from somewhere behind Eren. At that Eren sneered, the annoying horsefaced, two-toned hairsyled, asshole always got on his nerves.

Yimir, a tan skinned and freckled girl, quickly added to Jean’s statement, “Yeah remind me to never again pretend to be in a relationship with _Jean_. Though, I did get to slap him at least”.

Armin sighed before moving on. “Yes they’re right, Jean and Yimir did an excellent job of creating a scene with the help from Christa and Marco’s acting lessons. Their edict lessons and outfit planning also helped a lot with everyone’s missions, especially for Annie and Mikasa.”

“Hmm, and remind _me_ not to agree to stuffing any more outfits with anything to make me “more womanly” again” Annie mumbled as the small and strong blond started to remove the material Christa, another strong but more feminine blonde, had used to give her more curves.

“Yes, yes, everyone has something to complain about. Christa’s scream was perfect and all the distractions worked and we were able to take down Lord Brinton and the rest with, uh, no issues” Armin finished up his recap with only a slight hesitation at the end.

That hesitation told Eren everything he needed to know. Armin had seen Captain Levi’s suspicion or whatever and was not planning on telling anyone about it. That either meant he didn’t think the captain would do anything or that that he was afraid he would and the last thing he wanted was for the good guy to get targeted for knowing too much.

“My only question is, why did we wear our normal cloaks and masks? We wear these things everywhere and if for some reason someone comes around asking questions it could lead them right here” Reiner asked, putting a protective arm around Bertolt. “I mean it took us four years of going after the people the surrounding counts and countesses sent, lots of pain and money, and constant “good deeds” to get Nanaba and her people to trust us. How do we know there aren’t still people who hold grudges against the old assassin guild and their corrupt missions?”

Before Shadis had taken over the assassin guild, the old assassin king was as corrupt as Maria’s king at the time and worked for him doing awful jobs against the people who didn’t agree with him. By the time Shadis took over 25 years ago, when he was only 25 himself, the guild had made a reputation for themselves, and not a good one. Deciding to start completely over, Shadis got rid of almost every assassin, using any means necessary, and kept the only non-corrupt person in the entire guild, Hannes. They agreed to fall off the face of the Earth for a while and train new recruits from very young ages. They researched, followed, and recruited all of the new assassins, again using any means necessary, and trained them for years.

None of the new assassin’s fought too much against their new lives. They had all been affected by the corrupted government in some way or another and they all wanted their own revenge.

Ten years ago King Erwin inherited the throne and became the first non-corrupt king in generations. He asked an old, retired councilman, Dot Pixis, to become his adviser because he was the only old councilman who his father didn’t have under his thumb. A year passed and Erwin was able to make a lot of progress, but it wasn’t enough. That was when Shadis had come to the decision that it was time to start helping people and try to make Maria into a better, less corrupt place.

At the time Nanaba was the last of the four districts surrounding the royal city to be ruled by an honest person who was loyal to their country and people. Her land was slowly being taken away but she was fighting tooth and nail to keep her land and her people safe. The surrounding district’s counts had started sending different evil groups and organizations in order to weaken her people. Though she was staying strong, her people became restless and worried and only wanted the onslaught of quiet attacks to stop. Shadis saw his chance and took it; he started giving his assassins mission after mission to help the people of Nanaba’s district and to do anything they could while on these missions to help the most people. Shadis himself helped out the people financially, though no one really knew where all the money was coming from, and tried to make a good impression that way. It took a while but the people began warming up to them, which caught the eye of Nanaba herself. She began to work with Shadis directly in order to stop the other counts’ attacks. After six years of constant missions and planning, Nanaba’s land became stable again and her people were as loyal as ever.

Having gained the trust and love of the locals, Shadis had started using his old spies and informants to start going after bigger and worse prey. The assassin guild took down their first huge human trafficking ring six months ago and they were starting to get noticed. The attention didn’t stop them though, and they have been going after more and more evil and corrupt targets since.

It was true that during all of this they wore their outfits everywhere. It was more than obvious who they were from a profession outlook but many of them were either runaways, orphans, or missing children of pretty famous people and they didn’t want to attract any attention in that way.

The sound of Bertolt’s voice brought Eren back to the present, “Stop worrying Reiner, no one is going to come around asking questions, no one noticed us”.

Eren schooled his face into a mask at the last statement but he knew Shadis knew something was wrong from the moment Eren walked in. Armin’s hesitation and this last comment simply sealed the coffin.

His suspicions were confirmed when Shadis spoke up. “This all sounds well and good but I want to know what Eren and Armin are hiding from me,” he said as he glanced first at Eren then at Armin.

Eren looked at Armin’s panicked face and decided to take the fall, seeing as it was most likely something he did that caught the dangerous guard’s attention in the first place.

“Okay Shadis you caught us. Apparently I am “lethal looking” and had attracted the attention of Captain Levi sometime during the party. He was so suspicious of me that he sent out royal guards to look for someone with my description.”

At the end of my explanation everyone’s heads turned toward him but Armin’s face was the best of all of them.

More panicked now than before Armin yelped, “he sent guards out looking for you!? I-I just noticed him watching you and Mikasa when you walked in! But I mean, everyone was looking at you and Mikasa because of Mikasa’s outfit and I thought he was just like everyone else, but then you left and he followed your movements not hers and he kept watching you as you made your way across the room and he became more and more weary and cautious the closer you got, even when everyone was screaming he just kept looking at you and I almost ran up to him to distract him but then Erwin grabbed his arm and he finally looked away right as you killed your target and by the time he looked back you were gone and Lord Brinton was on the ground and he couldn’t see him and so I thought it was okay, I-I’m sorry!” Armin said his long speech without taking a breath or even pausing between sentences; everything ran together but everyone got the gist of what he said. Sucking in gobs of air, Armin turned back toward Shadis and said between breaths, “I don’t… know what… tipped him off… I’m… sorry.”

Sighing, Shadis simply said, “What’s done is done. Hopefully Captain Levi will forget about it but even if he doesn’t we won’t take any drastic measures. His squad and the rest of King Erwin’s closest people are the only real good guys over in that palace, the last thing we need is to weaken the wall between the King and those who don’t agree with him. Alright everyone it’s been a long evening, go to sleep or whatever else you guys plan to do tonight, you did well.”

Shadis left after that and Hannes waited a second before starting his own speech and interrogation. “Well he took that last part better than I expected. Eren what do you think happened?”

“I’m not sure Hannes, I mean Christa did an amazing job with my outfit, I looked as plain as I possibly could yet Levi was watching me from the second I entered apparently.”

“He said he was “lethal looking” though. Maybe it was the way Eren was holding himself?” Armin stated almost pensively.

“Maybe Ar but I know I was acting just as Marco told me to the minute I stepped foot in that room. The only time I didn’t was when I let the calm take over as I was walking toward Lord Brinton and that was a good ten minutes after we entered.”

“Maybe he has the hots for you Eren,” Connie said as he doubled over laughing, enticing a few laughs from the rest of the group.

“Anyway,” Hannes said, putting as much emphasis as he could behind the word “as Shadis said, what’s done is done, let’s move on. Did anyone notice you putting the poison in the drink Bertolt?”

“No sir” Reiner replied before Bert could say anything, “I was watching his back the entire time and no one saw anything.”

“Your name is not Bertolt, Reiner but I’ll take it. How about you Sasha, any problems? How was your aim?”

“Getting past the outer guards proved to be more difficult than expected but I was able to get to the advantage point in time sir. And my aim was okay, it got the job done. Oh! But I will say that Annie did her job amazingly, she was even distracting me a little.” Sasha giggled as she said the last part knowing it would get a rise out of the assassin who was still pulling material out of her dress

“Shut up Sasha, you’re not even into girls” Annie mumbled without looking up.

“Ah, anyway, Sasha’s being modest sir,” Christa spoke up from next to Yimir; “her aim was true and hit the mark perfectly.”

“Thank you Sasha for your, uh, modesty and thank you Christa for your honesty. And lastly, Eren how was your kill?”

“It was okay sir. I used a basic dagger and simply stabbed the man in his kidneys so that he didn’t collapse while my arms were still around him but as I walked away and his body gave out. It seemed like the easiest way to escape notice.” As Eren said that last part a frown graced his face and stayed there.

“Good decision boy,” Hannes said as he walked toward the still frowning assassin, “and don’t worry too much, whatever the reason you still did well and are still the best at disguise and manipulation Eren.”

Though the words were meant to comfort Eren it only made him more confused and frusterated. He was the best at trickery and stealth and had proved it mission after mission where he had to infiltrate some organization or other. So why was he immediately notice by Captain Levi? What tipped him off?  Was he not as good as he thought he was?

That last thought angered Eren more than he liked to admit. Like hell he wasn’t good at hiding and disguise. He was the best in the entire guild, possibly in the entire country. No matter what he was going to prove to everyone that he was the best and that he could trick anyone.

Even Captain Levi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah... set up.  
> Next chapter will be Levi and the gang over in the castle, it's gonna be great. The two do not meet in the next chapter, I'm sorry, but they will meet in the one after that (at least I think? Depends on how I split the chapter up).  
> Next chapter will be up in a week at the latest, I am on spring break but I have stage crew everyday from 8:10-4 so we'll see. Oh! And if I am ever more than two weeks late please go ahead and ride my ass till I post something new, you have my permission.   
> Thank you so much for reading this, I hope it wasn't boring or extreamly grossly written... it's really not my best.  
> Leave kudos and comment what you thought, but as always be nice about it please!   
> Rad!


End file.
